Wednesday with Alex

My most favourite little dude in the world is here today. He's had a bit of a bad bout of asthma and is staying home from school today. Since I am his most favorite person in the entire planet he choose to stay with me. (OK, technically I'm the only unemployed member of the family so that kinda makes me the default babysitter, but I like to think that he cried and begged his mom to stay with me)

So far this morning we have had hot cocoa for breakfast with fresh baked biscuits and jelly, he's put on his awesome hat that his aunt knit for him in his favourite colours thank-you-very-much. We have also made cookies

(Alex would like the blog to know that technically he made the cookies and that all I did was open the box) Later today we are going to go to the store to buy him his birthday present that I have yet to give him (Alex made it very clear that it has to be today because October is almost over) and this afternoon once the gurlies are home we are going to carve out the mega huge pumpkin that we got last Thursday at church.

More pictures of the "most giant pumpkin in the world" to come. Superman is mid stride there hence the awkward stance and lack of height, he sure does look weird in this picture.

Because I don't ever get to spend nearly as much time as I would like to with Alex (cough!!Meli, cough!!ahem) today I will be spending the day listening to Spiderman and Hulk facts and loading him up on simple sugars and mac & cheese. Hope your day is as cool as mine is going to be.

My editor.

Good morning peeps! I apologize for the lack of bloggage on Friday, you see I went and voted. I wont say for who because I have been a taught a great lesson about discussing politics here. This morning I had a grand 'ole post about who and why I had voted for. It was clear and concise and to the point, which I'm aware is unusual for me, but even so I wrote it. I was quite happy with what I'd written, quite happy until my editor got a hold of my post and deleted it. She didn't say much about the post, actually she didn't say anything about it at all. Her message was very clear however. Apparently politics are not to be discussed by me on this blog, not now, not ever. Jess is tough, but fair. I'll keep my vote to myself ma'am, wont do that again. Promise. Knitter's Honor, cross my needles hope to dye (yarn!)

So how goes the knittin'?

Well, I'm glad you asked. As I posted yesterday, following the completion of the increases for Meli's cardigan, I cast on a few things. As promised, here are some pictures.

Meli's Cardi. A top down raglan, in Cotton-Ease, knit on US7 (4.5mm) and a royal pain in the hind parts.

I completely ignored this project once I had something else to work on. I'm having a hard time going back to it, but as soon as I get off the blog, I'm going to work on it 'till Scratchy wakes up. I swear, Knitters Honor.

This is Lily's ; Bernat Berella"4" yarn knit on US7 and 8(4.5mm & 5.00mm)

I cast this on yesterday morning and worked only on the ribbing. But upon Lily's arrival home from school yesterday she saw the knitting on the couch she got really excited and started dancing around with it. She kept singing "my hat, my hat, its is my hat, my hat", it was way too cute, way. Once we got settled and they'd eaten she asked "mummy, do you want to knit on my hat now?". Again with the cuteness? So what choice did I have in the face of such a copious amount of cute? Tell me. What would you do? I knit on it while they watched a little TV.

After dinner, we started working on homework. Now I know that some of you find 1st grade and P-K mathematics and spelling absolutely fascinating, me, it makes my brain slowly liquefy. Soooo, I usually knit while we do homework. As I picked up the cardigan to work on, Lily got up and ran over to hand me the hat. So I worked on the hat. I did a total of 3 rows of the pattern I had chosen and then ripped back, it was the 1st grade math, it was getting to me. After doing this twice I gave up and just knit in stocking stitch. After their baths I was tucking Lily in and she asks "mummy, will you finish my hat so I can take it to school tomorrow". I was like "yeah right".

After everyone was in bed I was a little annoyed. I mean seriously, how dare she ask me to finish her hat so soon. It isn't like she's gonna take care of it (her track record with the hand knits precedes her) she'll just loose it, or tell me it's itchy. I mean what kind of pressure is that to put on your knitter. By the time I got to my knitting nest, I had really worked my self up. Then I picked up my knitting and all was well with the world again. The hat was ready to go this morning. She put it on as soon as I showed it to her, she was elated. As they were going out the door this morning Jess asked for her fingerless mitts because it was a bit chilly out (55 degrees, I think). Lily asked for hers, when I couldn't find them she got upset. I told her I would make her some new ones. She got all bright eyed again and said "today?!!" as she left. I rolled my eyes and said maybe. She was wearing a hoody so I didn't notice. Dudes, she left the hat. My heart is broken.

This is the culprit during happier times.

I am soooo not casting on her mittens!!! I think I'll comfort my self with these.

LionBrand Sock-Ease; Rock Candy on US1 KnitPicks needles

Update: As I post this I have to inform you that Scratchy is awake. Knittin' time over. Have a great weekend.

I got nothin'

Seriously, nothing. I have been battling this weird cold, allergy, sinus infection thing for like 2 weeks now and honestly I'm tired of feeling sick. It's getting to the point where I can hardly sleep and this alone is causing way more trouble than anything else. I think today I'm just gonna veg out on the couch and just ignore the dishes, which wont be that hard cause I do the almost daily, I'm really good at it. I think that it's also fair that I ignore the laundry that needs to be put away, I don't want the dishes to be jealous. If anyone wants to send over their spare housekeeper that would be awesome, just as long as she doesn't clean up too well, I don't want to raise my family's expectations of an actual tidy house. Okay, I'm off to veg out on the couch, Scratchy is sleeping(lucky)and I'm gonna try to bore myself to sleep with mass quantities of Stocking stitch. *Edited to add* As per Amy's suggestion that I cast on something else, I did. But to be perfectly honest I did so yesterday before I knew about her suggestion. The cotton seriously hurt my hands. I cast on a hat and a sock...and a mitten. Also does anyone have any suggestions as to a project that is quick, classy and substantial enough to impress other knitters. I need to have something to wear to the Kid n' Ewe festival in November. Maybe a scarf, or a vest. Can I knit a vest in 2 weeks?

FO's

Finally! Some knittin' It's been a while since I posted anything finished, or anything knitted for that matter. So today I finally got off my bum and did it. Want to see it, here it go:

First picture I took, please disregard, it be too dark.

Second picture I took, good. But disregard wrinkled baby blanket I grabbed out of my baby's hand in order to improve picture quality. Don't worry I gave it back to her and she only cried for a little bit.

The pink, purple and maroon hat is just a basic stocking hat, but for the top decreases I followed Jared Flood's Turn a Square (7/29/08 entry) technique, but instead of it striping (which I didn't expect, cause that's not what I was going for) the yarn began to swirl, which also looks awesome.

The stripey blue and green hat is Alex's birthday hat, which I forgot to give him on Saturday. I think that maybe I don't want to give it to him cause it's in my favorite colors, sorry Alex.

The other stripey hat is for a buddy of mine who is knocked up. It is also the hat that made me quit knitting. I no longer dislike it, in fact I kinda want to keep it because the yarn is so purty and so discontinued. But do not fret my pets, I'm sure I don't have anybody (and don't plan on having!! you hear that Superman) to fit it.

The socks are for my mom on her birthday, these don't fit me so I really cant keep them. I had my mother try them on under false pretences and I can assure you all that they fit her and that she is very upset that they are not for her, snort!

I have to admit that it felt like a whole lot more knitting, but now that I look at them en masse, it really looks like a puny amount. Fortunately I'm already done with the increases on my sister's cardigan (and what a pain that was) and will divide for the sleeves and the body today. I have devoted all my knitting time to this for the past few days. It's cotton and it makes my hands hurt, so it would have been really easy to knit on something else and completely disregard the cardigan, but since I didn't have anything else going, it was this or no knitting. So I knit this. Does anyone think it's safe to start a pair of socks now, or maybe even a hat? OR should I finish the cardigan first? Maybe I should start them and use them to give my hands a break from the cotton. No, it's best not to, but I think I will cast something else on, something small for working on in the car, I really don't want to lug the cardigan around, so I think this is the perfect excuse..erm reason. Yeah that makes sense. I win!!

Week-end Scenes

This past Saturday the weather around here was just plain glorious. It turned out to be the perfect costume party weather. Here's proof. Above we see my eldest daughter as Snow White, trying to whack the crap out of the Speed Racer Pinata. In the background you see my brother being a ham. Don't worry we all think he is odd. Here we see Lily as Snow White, trying to......well you get it, see prior description of Jess. Aren't my daughters creative? Yeah I didn't think so either.

Here we see Scratchy playing the part of.....yep, you guessed it...Snow White 3.0. The one obvious difference is that she cared not for whacking stuff. I think that really made her stand out. Very original of her, no?

This here is what happens when the pinata is whacked open. Everyone makes a mad dash for the candy. Even the grown-ups....er...bigger people.

This is what happens when the birthday boy believes that no one will push his head into the cake when he tries to take the customary (at least in our fambly) first bite of the cake. Isn't he naive? Silly seven year olds.

Hope y'alls weekend was as fun as mine was!!!

Is it 6pm yet?

Man I can't wait for this evening. Superman and I will be semi alone, quasi alone, almost alone. My wonderful, super fantastic, angel of a sister in law, will be taking my two oldest kids for a sleep over. So dudes it will be awesome. I love my gurlies but, I need to spend some time alone with Superman. No, no, no, get it out of the gutter. The reason said gurlies are here are because of that. We are not going to partake in said activities, No. Besides Scratchy will stay behind to protect my virtue. I need to have a very serious talk with Superman about the state of our closet. You see, he very seriously in the depths of his soul believes that putting on 3 to 4 shirts in one day is okay. He thinks that going through this many shirts and then hanging them over his other shirts is an appropriate way to keep them from ending up on the floor. Now as any normal person knows, it ain't okay dude!!! It pisses me off, it makes me want to lock you in there with Martha Stewart and the dudes from Queer Eye. So tonight, he and I are gonna go through my list of things that he has been doing that make me want to get my own room. It will be ever so fun. Okay not really on the list (it exists but, I'll save it for the jury) we are going to have a nice quiet dinner and then he will play on his beloved PSP and I will get to knit until my fingers are stiff. He will be in charge of keeping Scratchy happy and making sure I don't have to stop knitting. I'm working on Meli's cardi and as soon as I get over how stupid I can really be I'll tell you the story. It involves a Kfb, a M1, a YO and how they are different. Trust me it will make you feel better about yourself, which is really why I reveal these things. It's my service to the world.

The Coolest kid

This little dude is awesome. If you ever want to build, or wish yourself a little boy who is totally and completely the best at just about everything, this would be him. He is my nephew, so I may be a little biased, but you would be too if you knew him. Alex is the kinda kid that makes you feel like you got the short end of the stick as far as kid having goes. Here are some of the qualities that Alex possesses that make him so fantastically cool. 1. Alex taught Jess how to walk, well he taught her not be afraid of walking by herself. He is older than her after all, he's like a whole month older. Seriously. 2. Alex taught himself all the numbers and all the letters, on his own. He once asked me "Carmen, how you say this?" and pointed at the letter "K". I told him what it was and then he left. 3 days later he came back and told me he still remembered the letter "K", cause I told it to him. 3. Alex can bowl. He has beaten both his mom and his dad. His dad will never admit it, at least not publicly, he believes he's good at bowling. He is ashamed, cause a 6 six year old handed him his...well, lets just say Alex inherited his awesome bowling skills.

4. Alex has the best sense of humor for a six year old. He is not afraid of being silly and he doesn't balk away when asked to perform something silly.

5. He can break dance and is dang proud of it too, but it's best to get out of his way cause his windmill is .....windy. 6. If looking cool while talking on a cellphone was an Olympic Sport, Alex would have the gold. There you have it, coolness at the age of six. Lock your daughters up y'all, cause this little dude is a heart breaker. I love you Alex. Happy Birthday, thanks for the cake, pass the ice cream.

Brain Drain

When I was in 5th grade my teacher had us do a "brain drain" in order to get our creative writing juices going. They way it works is, you write down what ever is on your mind at the moment your pencil hits paper. The very first one I wrote started out with the sentence "I smell pancake syrup.....I hate the way it smells" Not the most creative sentence ever, but it did get me started on this rant about how one should be careful not get it on ones clothes cause it stinks. Coincidentally, I had the same conversation with the entire family a few weeks ago. The gurlies get it every where, and I mean everywhere. After breakfast in the morning they get dressed and get ready for school and every time they have waffles or pancakes I find it in the oddest places. A few days ago it was in Jess's hair, after that I found it on Lily's "arm knee"(elbow, she can never remember what it's called), this morning it was on her toe. I hate pancake syrup, hate it. I think I'm gonna head on over to my LYS today and take a shot at finding a decent 4.5mm 16" circular needle. My buddy Carol lent me hers over 2 weeks ago to re-do a hat, but I'm pretty sure she wants it back by now, cause, you know, isn't everybody knitting hats right now? No, just me then? Oh, okay....... I had to rip out an entire sock today, yep. I was doing the decreases for the toe and it seemed a little gigantic. So I counted the stitches I had left and then I had a mild heart attack. Instead of casting on 64 stitches I'd gone and pulled the number 72 out of now where. Mind you it wasn't like it was the first sock, it's the 2nd one of the pair! so I ripped it out completely. I decide the yarn and I need a break. So I cast on Meli's cardi. I'm getting really sleepy. This isn't unusual, the fact that my usual remedy for this tastes funny is. My coffee tastes funny, I think I'm getting sick. I think I'm gonna actually sleep during Scratchy's nap today. Unless she doesn't nap. Achooo!! Somebody please send Superman over here to take care of me. This has been, A Brain Drain.

We now return to your regularly scheduled Crazy.

To all my good buddies who left a message here or at my home, thanks. A big shout out to all my buddies on Ravelry who PMd me. Your words lifted my spirits so much and helped me get up the nerve to see my mum. She was fine and didn't really need me too much. We have a great family that loves and supports each other, even when one for us (read moi) was being a big 'ole ninny. I know I have been promising knitting updates. Sorry, today I actually have the time to take pictures, but looking for the camera and gathering all the knitting (there's quite a bit) takes time away from actual knitting, which I really like to do and prefer. Right now I have a pair of socks on the needles and I am swatching (!!) for my sisters cardi. I need to cast on 2 more hats this week and a pairs of fingerless mittens. But I don't want to have more than 2 projects going at one time cause I have found that it overwhelms me. I am more of a one project at a time person, but two, I can handle. But once I cast on the cardigan then I may have to have 3 projects, cause the cardi will take a while. Oh and I am working on my very first pattern. It is a hat, it will be free (duh, who am I Debbie Bliss?) and it will be easy and fabulous. I can also guarantee that it will be full of typos. But I have a designer buddy of mine who will help me write it. It looks like this. I'm off, I must go fold laundry and knit.

Abuelito.

That is what I called him. I miss him. I can say that honestly today, yesterday not so much. Yesterday when I learned of his passing all I could think was that I was glad he was finally resting. At the same time I felt guilty for feeling relieved. I almost felt that it was like saying I was glad it had happened, even tough it wasn't. So I didn't grieve, I spent most of the day thinking about him and remembering our time together, but not allowing my self to miss him, I didn't deserve to miss him. It had been almost 9 years since I last saw him and more then a few months since we last spoke, so I couldn't miss him. Even so I thought of him. My sister Meli came over and we hung out talked played some Pictionary, ate Pizza. It was quite fun. But the whole time that little voice in my head kept reminding me of him. But I shut it up, I wasn't allowed. My mother and my uncle gathered at my aunt's house which was good because I cant bear to see my mother yet, the thought of her tears over him hurt and bring tears to my eyes. She adored him, she and my youngest uncle were his favorites, the smile they brought into his bright grey eyes revealed it all. Today is hard, the full weight of his passing has slowly come down on me through the night. I dreamt of him last night which was odd because I never have before. I miss him. I obviously do, there is no more excuses for it. I tried but I just can't not miss him. He was always an anomaly to me. Always smiling the great big warm smile with those tiny teeth of his. He had a hard life but I never saw traces of it. H and my grandmother separated many years ago and he had been a bachelor since. He raised his youngest daughter alone and in time raised my oldest sister. You'd think it would have been difficult for a single man to raise to teenage girls but it wasn't his first time raising children on his own. My grandfather at about the age of 12 or 13 had lost both of his parents and was left alone in the world with about 3 siblings, he being the oldest. We are from El Salvador and in that country at that time there was no children's welfare program, no foster care, nothing. I don't recall if he had any other family, as far as I know he didn't. My grandfather raised his younger siblings. They were destitute when his parents passed, they had no home and no belongings it was just 4 kids alone, with no one to help, no hand outs and no one to take them in, nothing. He got a job picking cotton and corn and that way earned a little money to keep themselves alive and they mostly ate what ever fruit was in season. I distinctly remember him telling me that he hated mangoes for a long time because of this. They slept under trees near the field so that he could be one of the first in the morning when they came out to choose laborers. They all worked, even the youngest one, who could have been more than 5. It breaks my heart to know that they had to live that way. I cant even get my head around it. Most of my memories of him consist of him sitting in a hammock or on an Adirondack style chair under a shady Nance tree when I was about 2. He used to ask me to gather all the nances that had fallen overnight, so that I could give them to my grandmother to wash. He would tell me to hurry before the chickens came and ate them. The last time I went to El Salvador he asked if I remembered that, I said yes, he told me that I came at the wrong time of year; the nances weren't ripe yet. I was going to miss the season. I did, and now 9 years later, his season is passed too. There are many more stories of him like these that will be shared in my family in the coming days. Especially from my mother she misses him the most, but is very relieved that he has finally stopped suffering. She last saw him in July and although it took her a while to accept that he would soon be all but a memory, she couldn't help but hope it would be over quickly, his pain was too great. I think it is her pain, that hurts me the most. He really was all she had. He really was all we had. His name was Pedro Recinos, he was my grandfather. I miss him so much today, I didn't have him much in my life and now it seems like so much time was wasted, so much more I could have asked him. So many more stories about my mom and my uncles and their childhood just so many more things..... So many more more nances I could have picked, but the season is now past. I miss him. I think it's time to miss him, I owe it to him. I loved him, I really did, I think it's okay to say that now too, I'm allowed he was my grampa. My only one.

Quickly.

Just checking in cause I haven't all day, and I miss you guys.

Superman finally had a day off and the gurlies were home from school so we had a nice family day. Later I went to knit night and had a wonderful time talking about boobs, poop, and socks.

It was great. I know I said I would post pixies of knitting today but well you already know why I didn't. Maybe tomorrow. Lily is in need of some immunizations so maybe tomorrow will be about how she lost her $h!+ when she found out.

Good night y'all.

Hope you all had an awesome day too.

Excuse me.....

What the fly is this?:

As if the house weren't a big enough disaster already. Just in case you don't understand that is a picture of dirt. Dirt inside my house. Dirt in containers. Dirt behind our TV. Dirt inside my house, dirt in containers, dirt that my husband is storing behind our TV. Why? Because he loves me and likes to leave little surprises for me to lose my $h!+ over! Seriously who does that?

I called him at work cause amazingly enough he's never home when I find these things.

I asked why the hail he was storing potted plant containers behind the TV. His answer was because they looked ugly on our balcony. Yeah okay, um so it looks better inside our apartment behind the TV in the living room!

You know he was lucky that he was at work, cause I wasn't feeling very loving towards him at the moment. I must confess that I had a few violent thoughts. Okay, OK, I really wanted to have him not breath. ALOT

Imagine my complete shock to hear him laughing at me. Seriously, he was dying of laughter over there. This in no way reduced my pissed-off-ness.

I asked him why the flip he's laughing and he says "cause I only brought those in because of the Hurricane"

Aha, yeah, wasn't that like 3 weeks ago, dang near a month ago. Has it really been that long since I looked back there? Yeah it has, look at the layer of dust on the back of the TV. Seriously, who lives like this? Why hasn't the health department come by? Does this count as a confession, or an admission of guilt? Why is my family slowly trying to kill me? Why is my husband still laughing at me?

So does this mean I don't get the mother of the year award, again?

Oh and here is the reason I quit knitting

That danged baby hat is goign on it's 5th rip. I have had to re-do the decreases 5 times cause the stupid thig cant keep count. I'm thinking that given that this hat has lots of baby juju in it now, tha maybe I should frog it and just start over. I'd hate for it to bring bad energy to the newborn and the momma to be. That is just mean. I'm gonna give it one more try, but that's it.

Tommorrow pixies of FO's and what's on the needles.

I dont know why I even keep trying.

Dudes yesterday sucked, it was one of those days when you just run around trying to keep up but falling more and more miserably behind as the day goes on. Of course it had to do with my awesome skills at procrastinating, but I still feel that is no reason why a whole day had to suck. See, I volunteered to help with some fundraising packets at my daughters school. When I signed up for this I thought it would just be us PTO mums getting together to make sure all the orders were correct and having coffee. But it doesn't work that way, uh-uh, nope. No, the way it works is that a few of us volunteer to do it before the fundraiser even begins, then once it ends and all the packets have been turned in they divvy up said packets by grade and each of the volunteers gets to take a whole grade home to review. I think it goes without saying that I will not be volunteering for this next year. It is just too tedious. Especially when you go to the meeting on a Tuesday and get handed a crate with about 30 packets in it. I know that it doesn't sound like too many, (that's how they get ya) but each packet has about 4 different things that have to be done with them and that's not counting the 3 other things that you have to do if they are not filled in correctly or if the $$ isn't right and .....oh it's just too much. Well like I said we got the packets last Tuesday and since I only saw 30 packets then I figured I could do it during the week end. Then on the week end I figured I could do it all on Sunday evening. Sunday evening I figure I could do it later that night. Y'all I actually went to bed thinking I could do it 2 hours before I got my daughters up for school. Go ahead laugh, no seriously take your time, I'll still be here when you get up off the floor...... Done? Okay, sure I'll give ya a little more time...... Okay now? OK, so I went to bed (midnight) and I fell asleep, but at around 3am in the depths of my slumber a great big huge fear took a hold of me. "What if it took longer than 2 hours?" It shook me awake and I got up (made coffee) and began precessing the evil wicked packets. Dudes it took me 7 hours to process the damned things. Seven hours, Superman had to take the gurlies to school so that I could keep working, all I did was dress them, feed them and brush their hair. I had to turn those suckers in by noon so I had no procrastinating time left. I put Scratchy in her swing and let her watch Sesame Street for that hour she was awake. (Her morning routine consists of waking up, stretching, "using the facilities", nursing and then going to back to sleep until noon) It felt like it would take for ever, but I was done by 11am, that gave me enough time to feed Scratchy and get showered and ready to go. Do y'all see how that one act of procrastination screwed up my whole day. No? Well once I dropped off the packets I had to wait around for the treasurer to come get the $$. By the time it was all said and done it was 1:45pm. I still had to go to the grocery store and the bank and the pharmacy. The gurlies get out of school at 3:00 pm, I had an hour to take care of business. It very nearly killed me, Scratchy is heavy, and so were those groceries. I must admit that yesterday is pretty much a blur (I think I made Ramen soup with grilled cheese for diner) and that I will never procrastinate again (riiiight). Today the gurlies are home from school, they have stuffy noses and headaches (no fever thank God). I kept them home cause there is no reason their teachers should put up with their crappy attitudes when they don't feel well, it is my opinion that they put up with enough crap already. So we will be staying home today and recovering. Don't ask about the knitting, I think I quit.

Sorry Blog

I Carmen hereby declare that I am a world class procrastinator. Due to the my practice of said sport I cannot blog today. I will explain later today, maybe. In the mean time, please consider sponsoring me as I pursue my beloved sport. Thanks. I'm late y'all. I gotta go but you can go ahead and talk about me behind my back, I wont listen I promise. Any comments about my dishes are considered below the belt.

Lookie, lookie, linky, linky!

A few days ago I received an e-mail from KnitPicks saying that their DPN needles were 18% off, being all money savvy , I ordered some. I mean it would be irresponsible to not to order some. Now as you know I usually get my needles from The Almighty Hobby Lobby because they carry the sizes I need and they are cheeeeeep. Which suits me just fine, cause you know, so am I. Anyway, I ordered the needles and have been waiting impatiently ever since the 24th of September. I personally checked the mailbox yesterday afternoon and there was nothing, and I mean nothing. This morning Superman showed up with this box and was like "oh hey, do you know what this KnitPicks thing is?" I was watching the fabulous Kelly Rippa , so I wasn't looking in his general direction, so I said yeah, it's that company that hasn't sent me my needles yet (to be fair, they do state 5-14 days) and it's been like 2 years since I ordered them (I can be a bit dramatic).

Then it hit, this very sexy fellow knows I'm waiting for needles, but there is no way that he would pull the name KnitPicks out of thin air. So I looked at him and asked "why?" and he says "oh, no reason" with that slightly crooked smile he gets when he's being mischievous. Then I knew, so lunged at him and wrestled him to the ground, we struggled and my silk negligee tore at the thin strap on my shoulder.....

Wait no, that's not true, I did in fact lunge at him, but he's kinda scared of my so he just tossed me the box before I could bite him. Oh and I was wearing an old t-shirt of his and some really un-sexy shorts and my hair was kinda you know...not harnessed. I have the high suspicion that this dude took all the mail yesterday and has been hiding the needles ever since, but we will discuss that later.

I tore the box open and then I wept...I grabbed some STR and began a swatch, it was my first swatch ever, it was good.

I ordered the 2.25mm, 2.75mm (2 sets), and the 3.25mm (US 1,2, & 3)

I love them, and I will be getting some circs soon. Because y'all, they're awesome. My good buddy Chrisy, is to blame. Remember how she spoiled me way back in July, when she sent 2 sets of the Harmony circular needles, and I've been hooked ever since. I had always resisted getting the DPNs because they are only 6 inches long, and well, I need at least 7 inches. Otherwise I feel like my stitches are going to fall off the other end. But I guess my knittin' skillz have improved because I didn't feel that way this time. Also , for all my fellow cheap-skat...erm.. money savvy knitters, the total for these 4 sets was $20.95 and that includes shipping, that makes them .50 cents cheaper than the Susan Bates (which I still adore for their 7 inch-ness), that I get a Hobby Lobby, although to be fair I've gotten my last 10 (give or take) sets for less than a dollar cause they were moving stuff around and had put all the DPNs on clearance, remember. That's all for now y'all cause the gurlies have early dismissal today so I better do something.

Tired!

Dudes and dudettes, last night was rough yo! In an unusual move, I went to bed early last night 10pm-ish, but still only got 4 hours of sleep. Scratchy woke up at about 3am and just wouldn't go back to sleep, she wanted to play "suffocate mommy with a big drooly kiss". Normally (like during normal bid-nezz hours) it's one of my favorite games, but at 3am, well, not so much. I begged her to please stop and but she wouldn't listen. She just kept trying to kill me with oxygen deprivation, which I don't particularly enjoy when I'm busy trying to be unconscious. She finally fell asleep at 5am, just in time for me to get up and begin the day, how thoughtful of her eh? Today she and I are not on speaking terms, not because I'm angry or upset with her (she's 1), but because I can barely string thoughts together let alone actual words. I'm on my 3rd cup of coffee, so that is why this blog entry will at least make an actual attempt at making sense. Otherwise y'all would have to be reading googley moogley auchibawaness. Who know maybe you already are, and it's only making sense to me, if so I'll edit tommorrow.

Now that I've laid down an alibi for my lack of coherency lets move on to other more important things. My list of thing to knit before November 23 (Superman's Birthday) In order of which are due first:

• October 16: Hat for Alex 1
• October 30: Hat and fingerless mittens for Yanci (maybe a cowl too) 3
• November 1: 2 Newborn Hats, 2 pairs of booties for Knocked up Buddies 6
• November 15: Cardi for Meli 1
• November 17: Hat and mitts for Jess and Lily 6
• November 19: Socks and Hat for Momma 3
• November 23: 2 Hats, 2 pairs of socks for Superman. 6

All this obligated knitting is giving me a wicked case of start-stuff-for-me-itis. This list doesn't even include the stuff I want to knit before it gets cold, like 2 pairs of socks, a hat, a cardigan and some fingerless gloves for me. Superman has requested 5 pairs of socks for this "winter" and the girlie's need winter hats and mittens, all 3 of them. Man, that is alot of knitting (good thing I like it!) OH and lets not for get the Christmas knitting list, which is short only because I will only knit for people in this household and for specific requests from immediate family. Let's list it just for $h!+s and giggles okay?

• Socks for Superman 2
• Hat and scarf for Steve (my 'lil bro) 2
• Socks for Destiny(niece) 2

Oh, okay, that is not so bad. Lets hope that as the weather gets chillier these people dont get any bright ideas. Now lets add up all the individual pieces of knitting (socks count as 2 items for obvious reason: there's 2. Same goes for mittens)

32 items due, by the end of this year!

5 items complete.

27 to go.

I need ALOT of coffee!

Knitting Wednesday

Today class, we shall be discussing what's on the needles. I don't have any gargantuan amount of fiber to brag about so this will have to do.

I know folks, it is disappointing to hear about my buds having a good fibery time and poor little old me just sits here and bakes in H-Town, but I swear I don't do it on Porpoise( good one eh Rach?)

Anyway, seeing as how this is going to be the fall of the hats, socks, a cardigan and a few finga-less gloves, I give you......(thrumroll please) thrum, thrum, thrum ,thrum....

A hat.

This is also knit in the acrylic (Bernat berrella"4") from the other day, on size 4.5mm (US.7) 16" circular needles, that my buddy Carroll lent me There will be more hats knit from this yarn (in other colors) because it was on clearance at Michael's for .99 cents.

Now for you yarn snobs out there, and I mean this with the most love and respect I can muster. Ahem, Bite Me. Stop crinkling your nose at me.

I have in my life, as I've motioned before, 1 Superman and 3 Gurlies. Now seeing as how they all share genetic material then we must assume that they exhibit similar behavior. The most annoying behavior that these people display is that they lose everything every day. If I were to use my "good" yarn, I would never ever see it again. Well no, that is not entirely true, I could in fact maybe recover my daughter's hats and mittens, but in order to do that I would have to wade to through a mountain of (possibly lice infested) lost and found things at their school. I really don't want to do that. Like for real.

Now that I have rambled on about things I give you...

Another hat, newborn(cross needles) size.

This baby hat is knit in LanaGrossa Meilenweit Cotton & Fun Stripes (apparently discontinued) on size 3mm (US2) doing the Magic Loop. There is a matching set of socks/mittens to go with it. I hope the expectant momma like them. Get this, this is all out of one 50g ball of sock yarn, sweet.

I want to have both these hats done by this week end as well and once these are done I'm casting on the cardigan and another hat. These will be for two of my favorite people in the world so I gotta motor on them. I think tomorrow I will list all the knitting I have to do before November again. Crap!